The more I read Mike Mettler’s music disc reviews and Remaster Class columns, the more interested I become in re-exploring my favorite music, the more I look into remastered classic and newer albums, the more I end up buying remastered and higher-res

SOME MAY see France’s Focal as a maker of $100,000-plus speakers and $4,000 headphones. But while the company does maintain a high profile in the high-end through products like its Utopia towers, the reality is that Focal makes speakers—and headphone

WHEN I FIRST ran across JBL’s HDI series loudspeakers at the 2019 CEDIA Expo, I was struck by the line’s upscale looks and substantial build quality. The brand’s new speakers seemed more akin to the Revel models also being shown in parentcompany Harm

Polk Audio’s new MagniFi 2 soundbar hits a sweet spot of affordability, performance, and convenience. It features Polk’s patented SDA Stereo Dimensional Array technology to enhance stereo imaging, a 3D Mode that adds virtual height and surround effec

AT THE LAST CEDIA Expo in September 2019, JVC announced a firmware update for its native 4K D-ILA projectors that delivered true frame adaptive HDR tone mapping to the lineup. For CEDIA Expo Virtual 2020, the company’s key announcement was an improve

Let us begin with the facts, which are indisputable. Fact: Theologians unanimously agree that God intended that cars should be powered by internal combustion engines (ICE). Any other means of automotive power is heresy. I’ve written before about how

Inspired by the 1962 Cinemascope epic The 300 Spartans that he saw as a lad, writer/artist Frank Miller would go on to create the five-issue graphic novel 300, a wildly stylized, heavily fictionalized account of the Battle of Thermopylae. In his tell

Picture yourself in a boat on a river. Floating downstream, you eventually arrive at a beautiful island locale, where upon its shores awaits your favorite band. After you disembark, the band shows you a potential setlist that you approve, albeit with

DISTRICT 9 rises above its disparate components—there are multiple strong influences, everything from Alien Nation to the faux-documentary feel of The Office—to deliver a socially resonant story that’s even more relevant a decade after its release. L

Sure, if you’re in the 1% who can drop six-figures-plus on home entertainment without thinking twice, then you absolutely should pursue the best available gear, since splurging on a top-notch system can deliver daily joy that’s hard to put a price on

MAMORO OSHII’S beautiful and unsettling anime film, Ghost in the Shell, has been released on Ultra HD Blu-ray to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Based on Masamune Shirow’s cyberpunk manga, the film explores themes of existence and of humanity in a te

Q I have over 9,000 songs in various audio formats on a hard drive hooked to my computer. Most of these have been ripped from CDs or captured from vinyl over the years. To listen to the music, I stream it over my home network to a Samsung TV connecte

WHEN YOKO ONO AND SEAN Lennon set out to create a music collection to honor the late John Lennon’s 80th birthday, they knew that another greatest hits collection wasn’t something fans needed or wanted. Instead, together with the core team that crafte

DIRECTOR David Lynch’s film tells the story of Joseph Merrick, whose terrible deformities to head, limbs, and skin led to him being called the Elephant Man. It begins with Merrick’s nightmare of his mother being attacked by elephants—supposedly the c

EACH AUTUMN, I fret that we won’t be able to find ten worthy entries for this gotta-have-‘em list, and every year am genuinely surprised at the bounty that has somehow remained heretofore unreleased. I guess there will always be anniversaries and res

“IT’S THE getting started that’s the puzzle—no way for a poor man to start. You need capital. Or you need some kind of miracle. Or a crime.” These words, uttered by King-Lu, a Chinese immigrant seeking fortune in the mid-19th century Oregon Territory

Who doesn’t love the iconic game hero Mario? A fun gift for gamers and nongamers alike, Nintendo’s micro “console” is a modern update of the hugely popular Game & Watch series that dates back to 1980. The self-contained system celebrates the enduring

The Rhino family have undertaken a finely detailed refresh of The Replacements catalog, having started in September 2019 by revamping, remixing, and greatly adding to February 1989’s Don’t Tell a Soul by way of a 3CD/1LP deluxe box set redubbed as De

THREE YEARS AGO, Sony introduced the VPL-VW885ES, a 4K LCOS projector with a laser light engine. I found the 885ES to be capable of throwing high-quality images when I reviewed it, but in the end wasn’t fully enamored with the new projector. Basicall

Measurements were taken in a variety of conditions with the bulk made using the projector’s Reference preset. The selected gamma preset was 2.2. All calibration was done with the dynamic laser/iris disabled and the contrast ratio measurements taken i

DENON’S AVR-X6700H, made in Japan, is one of four new models in the company’s X-Series A/V receiver family. The new models start at $849 for the AVR-X2700H and extend up to $2,499 for the AVR-X6700H under review here. (The company’s current $4,000 AV

IT’S BEEN interesting to watch the evolution of Monoprice in the home theater market following the introduction of its Monolith product line. Monolith encompasses a broad range of components, including speakers, subwoofers, and amplifiers, all produc